FRANK LAMPARD says it’s too early write Chelsea off and has backed them to retain their Premier League title.

Antonio Conte’s men suffered a surprise 3-2 defeat to Burnley on the opening weekend and are looking to get their first points of the season against Tottenham this afternoon (4pm).

Many pundits have backed Manchester United and Manchester City as the favourites for the title and Jose Mourinho’s side have started the season brightly with two wins, scoring eight goals and conceding none.

But Chelsea legend Lampard expects his former side to be challenging, along with rivals Tottenham when the campaign draws to a close in May.

However, he feels Arsenal and Liverpool will struggle to compete with their rivals and has already ruled them out of the title race.

I went for Chelsea as my title favourites before a ball was kicked this season and it is too early to change that

Frank Lampard

“I went for Chelsea as my title favourites before a ball was kicked this season and it is too early to change that,” Lampard told Yahoo Sport.

“Maybe people will say that is me speaking from the heart, but no one backed them to win the title last season and they ran away with it and when you look at this season now, it is very hard to predict who will end up as champions.

“All of the top clubs have added players and most of them come from foreign countries. We don’t know how they are going to adapt, will they fit in to the Premier League? We can’t say for sure yet.

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“Manchester City probably have the most quality in terms of attacking players, but we don’t know whether they are all going to gel together.

“Last year it didn’t work for them, for sure, and that is what I say don’t dismiss Chelsea this time.

“Manchester City will be there, Manchester United will be there, Tottenham can get into the mix once more…Arsenal and Liverpool, I’m not sure they are in the mix to win the title.

“So why can’t Chelsea think about winning it again. When they had their best eleven out, no one could get near them last season. The system they played gave most teams trouble and they were very hard to play against.”